Get them chipped!!

Sparklebabey

As you know, I have had a little lodger camped out on my doorstep for several days:D

In my quest to find his owner I put up lots of flyers and ads on Gumtree and persuaded the local radio station to do an appeal for me.

And one thing has struck me. I have had people on the phone literally in tears because their cat is missing - and I have had loads of responses to my appeals.

But all, bar 1, had not had their cat chipped.

So I would urge anyone that if your pet going missing - be it dog or cat - would devastate your world, please PLEASE get them chipped.
:A

scrabbles_2

I absolutely second that!

Last bonfire night OH and I spent ages catching a dog that was running amok across the A45 (causing a huge hazard to itself and to motorists). As it had a collar disk but no details on it (!?!) so we took it to the 24-hour vet who scanned but there was no microchip. As we had a poorly, nervous deaf-blind cat at the time we simply couldn't take him home, so in the end had no choice but to take it to the dog warden (our local warden is attached to a no-kill shelter - we made sure of that!)

A few days later OH was recounting the story in work when, in one of those neat coincidences you would never believe if they were in a novel, it turns out the dog belonged to the brother of his work colleague. The owner had to pay nearly £200 to get his dog back - and the warden said that sadly they get owners in all the time who say it's too much money and refuse to formally reclaim them :mad: OH had no sympathy and pointed out that £15 microchip and £5 tag both looked like a bargain now didn't they?!

Fire_Fox

Agree 100%: microchipping can be had from £10. Vets are not pushing this, I've heard many times of vets encouraging it to be done with neutering ... but the the kitten/ puppy escapes first. I wonder if the public think it's more expensive than it actually is?

Miss_Havisham

Before I had my cat I went into all the costs and expenses to make sure I could afford it. I can only assume that some people think that a little creature such as a cat can't cost much to "maintain" but how wrong they are !

Also having little animals in the family are a big responsibility and there are no short cuts to keeping them healthy and safe - costs money and time.

VoucherMan

That's the kind of message you want to get your local radio station to broadcast, where lots of people will hear it.

I expect most of the people who read this, certainly the forum regulars, will already have theirs done.

lisa701

We had our pup microchipped at the same time as his vaccinations. Didnt see any point in waiting until he was several months old before getting it done (anything could happen to him in that time). Plus the vet offered us a discount on microchipping if done at same time as something else.

G-WWBB

A fair amount of RSPCA rehoming branches do several free microchipping events throughout the year. Always a good idea to keep an eye out in your local papers, or even like your local RSPCA page on Facebook as they will post details of such events going on.

Sparklebabey

VoucherMan wrote: »

I expect most of the people who read this, certainly the forum regulars, will already have theirs done.

I quite agree however there are lots of people who browse this site and aren't even logged in as users so if it gets to even one of them.....

@Fire Fox....I think you have hit the nail on the head - I think the perception is that it is more expensive than it is.

I have had some truly heart wrenching calls from people so distressed as they have lost their cat and hoping that 'my' one was theirs....so these are well loved pets. But not so well loved to shell out a tenner or so...that was what the head scratcher for me was.

con1888

our pup is getting chipped tomorrow by his breeders vet at the same time as his first jab

Cat isnt done yet as he was supposed to be a house cat, he is getting done when i take pup for 12 week jab though as he goes out now and again.

PixieDust

Please also think about having your pet ferret(s) chipped too. These animals can range for many,many miles and evade capture until they are really very poorly and seek a human to help them.

Please chip all your furry babies :-)

antw23uk

Getting a house cat chipped is just as importantCan you imagine if a cat that had never been outside got out by mistake in a blind panic ... you would never find it! Glad yours is being done :T

We fostered our cat Ollie (before we decided to keep him) and he came via the CP at a few weeks old. He was full of cat flu and sooo skinny and you could actually feel his microchip bless him